The DC Universe is about to be reset with the new slate of features and television shows cooked up by James Gunn and Peter Safran. There’s some confusion, however, as to who and what from past DC fare should be considered canon in Gunn and Safran’s vision.
“Nothing is canon until Creature Commandos next year—a sort of aperitif to the DCU—and then a deeper dive into the universe with Superman: Legacy after that,” Gunn wrote on Threads in response to this very question, adding: “It’s a very human drive to want to understand everything all the time, but I think it’s okay to be confused on what’s happening in the DCU since no one has seen anything from the DCU yet.”
Creature Commandos is an animated series set to come out in 2024 that has a bevy of A-list actors on to voice new characters as well as DC vets like Viola Davis, who is reprising her role as Amanda Waller. That ties into another point Gunn made on Threads, where he confirmed that certain actors who have played certain characters in previous DC films will also been in his new universe.
“And, yes, some actors will be playing characters they’ve played in other stories and some plot points might be consistent with plot points from the dozens of films, shows and animated projects that have come from DC in the past,” he wrote. “But nothing is canon until CC and Legacy. 🧜♂️”
The emoji of a merman at the end of Gunn’s statement maybe hints that Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, who we’ll see in Aquaman 2 later this year, might be one of the actors who made the cut. (Or, perhaps, it hints at the opposite?)
Gunn didn’t explicitly confirm that, though he did confirm in another Threads post some characters we would see in the new DCU.
“Xolo Maridueña will continue playing Blue Beetle in the DCU, as Viola Davis will Amanda Waller, and John Cena will Peacemaker,” he wrote. And to the delight of Peacemaker fans everywhere, he also recently confirmed on Threads that Freddie Stroma (pictured above in Peacemaker) will be back as Peacemaker’s BFF, Vigilante.
Gunn also added that viewers didn’t have to know anything about these actors’ respective characters in the old DC stuff to understand/enjoy what’s in store. That’s good news to hear, because it will be nice to watch something from a big IP and not have to worry about how it ties into multiple other shows and movies (though, of course, if that’s something you enjoy there’s certainly nothing wrong with that).
This post was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.
